Upgrade an old edgy machine to a LTS version ?

[Tim Frost]

Sam,


On Thu, 2009-04-30 at 17:02 +0200, Sam Przyswa wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a problem to apt-get apps on an old Edgy REMOTE machine, How to 
> upgrade *remotely* this Edgy machine to a LTS version ?

Not an easy task, as there will be several (at least 3) reboots, so
console access is advisable (remote KVM preferred, but serial may work).

Since edgy is  version 6.10, which is newer than dapper (version
6.06.2LTS), you need to upgrade to hardy (8.10LTS) to get a system that
is running an LTS release.  Because edgy is not an LTS release, you will
need to upgrade in steps:
0: apply any outstanding edgy patches, from old-releases.ubuntu.com
1: edgy -> feisty from old-releases.ubuntu.com
2: feisty -> gutsy from old-releases.ubuntu.com
3: gutsy -> hardy from archive.ubuntu.com (or a mirror)

Note that because of their age, and the 18-month support limit for
non-LTS releases, you need to use old-releases.ubuntu.com for all except
the final step to hardy.

Upgrade steps are:
1: Change your sources.list to access the archived repositories
    on old-releases.ubuntu.com, rather than archive.ubuntu.com
    (edit /etc/apt/sources.list with your favourite editor - eg
     "sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list" or
     "gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list").
2: do "sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"
    to get the newest packages for the edgy system
3: Edit /etc/apt/sources.list, replacing 'edgy' with 'feisty'
4: repeat the "sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"
   which should upgrade the system to feisty.  You may need to
   repeat the "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" step, if there are problems.

5: Update to gutsy, by repeating steps 3 and 4, changing 'feisty' to
'gutsy' in /etc/apt/sources.list.

6: Upgrade to hardy, by:
   a: Replacing 'gutsy' with 'hardy' in /etc/apt/sources.list
   b: Specifying the active archive (archive.ubuntu.com, or your
       local mirror) rather than old-releases.ubuntu.com,
       in /etc/apt/sources.list


Note that there is some risk of breakage, because Ubuntu prefers the use
of update-manager rather than apt-get (or aptitude), and because the two
intermediate steps, like edgy, are no longer officially supported.  

> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Sam.
> 
> 
> 

Hope this helps.


Tim


-- 
Tim Frost <timfrost at xtra.co.nz>